Atonement

We sat frozen, our eyes glued to the canyon entrance. The thundering got louder as a pair of hammer tails burst out into the wide opening. They looked haggled and distraught, for on their trail was a rock lion. Time seemed to stop as we all held our breath and watched the lion decide what was next. He ducked down close to ground and then launched at us from across the open little canyon. Someone screamed.



It happened so fast, I never even got the rifle lined up. That’s how fast Babe was. I could see as the lion became aware. I caught an image as the rock lion realized his mistake. He only had time to stop and look to his left. Lions were never prepared for Babe.



It was a thick wet ugly sound. The lion propelled sideways a good twenty yards then rolled six or seven times. He tried to stand up, but didn't even make it. He lay back down on his side. I watched several deep breaths and then they stopped. Babe had just one-shotted a rock lion.